Island of Kauai in the Morning

Our second day on the Big Island during the cruise had a stop at Kona. I had discovered that I was allergic to something near Kona during our week long stay with Krista’s family so decided to stay on the boat this stop. Turns out I am allergic to VOG. Vog comes from “volcanic” and “smog” and is a form of air pollution that results when sulfur dioxide emitted by Kilauea volcano reacts with oxygen and moisture in the presence of sunlight. There is a constant haze of vog hanging over Kona because the trade winds blow it from the volcano to the west side of the island. Leave it up to me to be allergic to volcanoes!! Next we sailed to Kauai and our tour called the Heaven and Earth Quest. After the morning on the helicopter, we dubbed it the Hell on Earth Quest. In Alaska we had done helicopter rides twice and truly loved them, but here we spent 45 minutes up and down and all around, sometimes dropping a hundred feet at a time. The scenery was amazing, but several people in our sister helicopter were so sick they had to be taken back to the ship. ANYWAY, we flew over the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”, the Na Pali coast and saw the waterfalls and mountains seen in Fantasy Island, South Pacific, Blue Hawaii and Jurassic Park. The advertisement says “Soar through the heavens for a bird’s eye view of magnificent waterfalls, majestic canyons and inaccessible beaches.” In the copter with us were two young Russian couples who spoke very little English, but somehow we all knew what everyone was thinking: no English necessary, just gripping the little “chicken bar” handles and holding your breath. Check that off the bucket list because it ain’t happenin’ again!!! Luckily the afternoon portion of the tour was unbelievably beautiful. MA